Giuliani Gets Big Coverage Based on Rare Joke

Today at a Crain's Business Breakfast Forum, former Mayor and unsuccessful Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani told listeners that "the only way I could get elected governor is the way I got elected mayor -- things have to be so bad..." He got a big laugh there, but later said that, if he thought he could "make a real difference in the state," he would run, leading the New York Post, champing at the bit, to headline, "GIULIANI TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR -- ONLY IF THINGS 'GET WORSE.'" (Crain's itself headlines, "Rudy Giuliani downplays run for governor," and says his speech "seemed crafted for a Joe-the-Plumber, Rush Limbaugh-loving audience rather than the several hundred businesspeople gathered before him at the Crowne Plaza Hotel")...

A questioner suggested that, given that the race is next year and Giuliani claimed not to have "thought deeply" about it, the former Mayor was "unprepared" to run. "When I do, if I decide to run," replied the Mayor, "I will think more deeply about the issues than I have." He said that if he were running the state, he would consider abolishing the sales tax and instituting "successive massive budget cuts."